Recently received an email from FamilyTreeDNA saying, “Welcome to the R1b-L21 and Subclades Project!” No explanation. No further information in the email. And I wondered, “Is this legit?” My initial Y-DNA test had been a 12 marker test in April 2008, 16 years ago. I joined the Phillips DNA Project, and placed in Group 11 where I found a growing group of several cousins. If I recall, our haplogroup was designated as just “R1b.”
That's the puzzle. I am not a geneticist, nor a scientist. I am a historian, and a theologian. My interest was in breaking down a brick wall in my paternal family tree. Haplogroup R1b is estimated to have arisen between 12,500 and 18,500 years ago. That was not much help. The earliest common ancestor among Group 11 members lived in Rhode Island in the mid 1600's, perhaps born about 1635 based upon the birth years of his children, and likely died about 1676, based upon the settlement of his estate by his widow. Most assume that he was of English origin.
Eventually I expanded my test to 36 markers, and a few other members of the group had their tests expanded to 67 markers. The expanded tests resulted in FTDNA being able to classify our test results within a “subclade.” I learned that the Subclades are groups within the Haplogroups. But, what does it mean? Are we Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English? And if we are English, to which tribe do we belong? Yes, that is the rub. My first guess was that we could be Anglo-Saxon.
The British Isles, like the American Continents, are a soup of many ingredients. We think of the Celts, who spoke Gaelic languages, as the Irish, Scots, Welsh, and Cornish. But historically, England was populated by many Celtic tribes when the Romans invaded in 54 BCE, and again more successfully in 43 CE. At the fall of the Roman Empire in the beginning of the 5th century CE, the Anglo-Saxons migrated to England. They were followed by the Vikings. The Vikings were followed by the Norman Invasion. To which cultural/ethnicity did our ancestor belong? Each of these point to a more recent event than the initial R1b classification, several thousands of years ago.
Following the classification of R1b, came the Y-Haplogroup R-M269, and the Haplogroup R-DF23, and now the Subclade R1b-L21. I began to do some sleuthing with “Google.” My first finding suggested “Briton.” Nothing new and exciting there. With the new Haplogroup and Subclade classifications, I was able to discover that we are of “Insular Celt” origin. So, that places our common ancestor on the British Isles, probably England, before the Roman invasions. It doesn't tell me which tribe. It seems that there were 24 Celtic tribes who inhabited what is now England. My earliest known ancestor's obituary in 1869 suggests the family origins were in Devonshire. So, just perhaps our Celtic tribe was the Domnoii who inhabited what is now Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset.
This did not break down my brick wall, but it was exciting to learn.